Friday, February 23, 2007

Friday 02/23 A.M. Quickie:Wow, Is It a Loaded Day

Oscar Picks coming later today! But before that, there's a ton going on today:

Wade Injury Update: If Dwyane Wade has season-ending surgery on his shoulder, the Heat's season ends, too.

Not only will they not make the playoffs, but they SHOULDN'T make the playoffs (given that they have no chance to win), and instead should take advantage of the rich NBA Lottery. (Who else has a "frozen Ping-Pong ball" sending Oden to SouthBeach?)

NBA Trade Dudline: Just make the commitment to yourself that you'll never get worked up about it again.

The Nets will regret not dumping Carter when he bolts for Orlando this summer. But I'm quite sure they'll get some value back in finding a new home for Jason Kidd this summer. (The Lakers blew it by not trading Bynum for Kidd. By the time Bynum is any good, Kobe will be too old.)

Meanwhile, this is the most publicity Juan Dixon has gotten since Maryland won the National Championship in 2002 (even if most of it is loaded with sarcasm).

"Violence in Vegas," Update: David Stern said that Sunday's violence won't deter the league from bringing another event there (or even relocating a team) as much as the lack of a new arena. At least he's being honest.

Dennis Johnson dies: I'm sure Simmons will give this full-court treatment, but for the non-Celtics fan, DJ was notable for:

5. His defensive prowess

4. His Sonics title in '79 (Finals MVP)

3. His role in the Celtics 80s dominance

2. Consensus pick as "least attractive NBA player of the 80's"

1. His role in Game 5 of the 1987 Eastern Conference finals, finishing the "Bird stole the ball!" play.

Rest in peace, DJ.

CBB Last Night: When you find out that Butler loses to Loyola, you can't help but file it away to take Butler no further than the first weekend of the NCAA Tournament.

Meanwhile, if you thought WashingtonState was a legit FF contender, they couldn't get the job done against Oregon. (In Wazzu's defense, it was in Eugene.)

Finally, Duke's win over Clemson puts the Tigers on the outside of the Bubble, needing a strong ACC Tournament push.

Women's College Hoops (2 Days in a Row!): But you know I love a good superlative, so "Longest Game Ever!" certainly qualifies. 5 OTs! (Who won? Who lost? Meh.)

CBB No. 1 vs. No. 2: Wisconsin at OhioState. Both teams could use the win to bolster the cause for a 1-seed, but ultimately, it's the winner of the Big Ten Tournament title that will get it.

More CBB Weekend: Is Pitt at Georgetown a battle for a No. 2 NCAA Tournament seed? A little early, but the Top 2 teams in the Big East.

The Steroid Cops are coming to spring training, where they can expect their lack of enforcement power to yield the same "Eff off" as before.

MLB: Clemens Watch. Presuming that the Yankees and Red Sox will be neck-and-neck all season long, the Rocket is going to make a LOT of money (and make a LOT of people happy/mad) when he comes back.

Hide the mics: So the Red Sox won't be re-signing Curt Schilling next season, and he's already talking about being a free agent. No, THAT won't be a distraction this season or anything.

NHL: What does it say that the only time the NHL makes the radar is when two teams brawl it out?

CFB: Boise State's Chris Petersen got a new five-year deal worth more than $4 million. Which he SO earned. Who doesn't love Boise?

High School Hoops: Anyone else catch OJ Mayo scoring 47 last night against No. 1 St. Patrick's? What great foreshadowing of his one-year college career: Lots of points, but ultimately losing.

NFL Draft: I love the total arbitrariness of the coin flip to decide whether the Browns or Bucs get the 3rd overall pick. It happened this morning: The Bucs called Heads; the coin came up Tails. And the Browns end up with the 3rd overall pick, with the Bucs picking 4th. (The teams will flip-flop in subsequent rounds.)

What's the difference? Well, if both teams want an O-lineman and Joe Thomas sneaks past the first two picks, he's there. If both teams want a WR and Calvin Johnson sneaks past the first two picks, he's there. If the Bucs really covet Johnson as much as the mock drafts insist they do, then the Browns -- who might not really want/need Johnson, with Braylon Edwards as their No. 1 WR -- might be wise to swap picks with the Bucs, in exchange for flip-flopping their positions in Rounds 2, 4 and 6, allowing the Browns to pick ahead of the Bucs.

(But via the must-read ProFootballTalk, it sounds like the Browns are hot-n-heavy for JaMarcus Russell. Either he'll drop to them at No. 3, or that No. 3 pick gives them a better shot at trading with the Raiders for the top spot than having the No. 4 pick. Draft intrigue already sizzling.)

NFL Combine: I would love to have a all-access camera inside the team one-on-one interviews with the players. They sound fascinating, and the premium seems to be on "football smarts" over, say, Wonderlic. (How's that Vince Young uber-low score looking now? He should frame that Wonderlic scoresheet next to his Rookie of the Year trophy.)

NFL News: Is Corey Dillon going to retire? (Was anyone else surprised to see the stat that he's 14th all-time in rushing yards and the career leader among all active players? Given that he's "only" 32, that's a hell of a career (but not Hall of Fame).

More NFL : The Raiders dumped Aaron Brooks. Those cheers are from fans in Oakland. The Jags will stick behind Byron Leftwich, who is my favorite player on the team. ("My" team, of course.) But, again via ProFootballTalk, perhaps it's all a ruse to get the Raiders to trade them Randy Moss for Leftwich? Finally, which team will swipe new free agent Adalius Thomas from the Ravens?

Whitlock takes on the "Black KKK": If only he didn't compare himself to Rosa Parks for doing it, I might appreciate this column as much as I should.

Steve Rushin leaving SI: Excuse me if I can't get too worked up over this. I've always found his column to be overrated. We get it: You're married to Rebecca Lobo.

Cold Pizza leaving NYC: USA Today's Mike McCarthy confirms that the program is relocating to Bristol.

Most intriguingly, the show is getting a new name, finally shedding what was quite possibly the worst name in sports-TV history. (When the show was first announced, I suggested the sensible and self-evident "ESPN A.M." but was ignored. Of course, I also suggested that they steer clear of the fuzzy, non-sports content, which was also ignored.)

Prediction: The ratings will go up simply from dropping the name "Cold Pizza" and changing it to something better. Many viewers will think that it's an entirely new show. (Of course, they'll still run into Skip Bayless at 10 a.m.)

Depending on which paper in boston you read Corey Dillon is either retiring(Boston Globe) or looking for a new team where he will get more carries (boston herald). Either way who cares with Maroneny as the main back the Pats will be fine,.

Where do you live? Have you seen OJ play in person? I have seen him play numerous times when he lived in Ohio. I also got to see Lebron play in person numerous times. I am telling you all now, OJ Mayo is a better player than Lebron was in HS. His 3 point shot is 10x's better and his ball handling skills are superb. Trust me.

Re: Corey Dillon. As a life long Bengal fan, I was hoping Dillon would rush for 1,300+ yards every year for 10+ years and become the all-time rushing leader. So his high totals are not a shock to me. He won't get into the HOF unless he plays a few more years. Even then, with players like Barry, Emmitt, Jerome, and Curtis as locks, it would be pretty much impossible for him to make it.

I have a hard time watching High School basketball on major TV. That form is so un-pure it makes me somewhat sad.

It's all private/prep-schools/basketball-mills that get the good players, and they are funded by booster with deep pockets, and have shady relationships with college basketball coaches. I like watching kids play, I cover High School basketball for the radio station I work at. They are public high schools with homegrown players. Occasionally you get a 6'5" player on a team. But mostly it's a more pure form to watch, instead of these players from around the country playing together to increase their chances of getting to the league.

There is a lot wrong with the world of sports, and this is only one of the problems. I know it won't change, but I still don't like watching it on TV...I guess I'm a hyporcite because I love college hoops and it's not much diffrerent, it just seems more legit

If Dillon hadn't played mosto f his career in Cinci he'd probably be a hall of famer. He held the rookie rushing record (does he still?) and had the highest single game total until Lewis broke it a couple years ago.

He does have his ring and a ton of yards, so maybe he will make it in.

Honestly Rev I really do not think HS Sports should be broadcast on National TV at all. These kids should be left alone to enjoy there HS years not have the pressure add to them of playing on National TV.

As for Mayo he may be better then LeBron but there is no real way of telling. As I said 40+ points in a HS game is not impressive.

The Big Ten championship is late on Selection Sunday so I would say that this Sunday's game has more meaning (especially if Wisc. wins and sweeps the reg season meetings)! The media is obsessed with Oden and thus keeps pumping up the Buckeyes but I'm not quite sold that they can go the distance.

I read Jason Whitlock's column and I don't think he's comparing himself to Rosa Parks. He's just speaking out what he says is injustice by a group of people. He's a right. As a black man, all I can do is shake my head and see how black people are destroying themselves with their selfish, dangerous behavior. I totally agreed with his column. Martin Luther King, Jr., would be appalled by NBA All-Star Weekend and the behavior of that group at the ticket counter.

The Nets weren't going to get anything good back right now for Carter. They'll probably get more this summer when they do the sign and trade. It will hurt their draft position by not trading Kidd and Carter though.

Mayo can shoot the ball. If I had a favorite NBA team I might be wishing for them to tank this season AND next. Corey Fisher was also awesome in that game last night. Jay Wright looks to be creating a better version of the 4 guard offense at Villanova.

The Clemens reports are almost as bad as the Favre reports. Wake me when he's actually signed with a team.

Adelius Thomas - Patriots big free-agent signing this off-season. Hands down, he's the #1 on their "to-do" list. I wouldn't be surprised to see something in the neighborhood of 4 years, $36M with $10-12M of it as a signing bonus.

Corey Dillon - he's not signing anywhere else. His agent has to tell the reporters that, just in case. But unless a team with a legit shot at another ring decides they need a platoon back, Corey's done. And he's only in the HOF if no more than five people pass him on the all-time rushing list by the time he's eligible.

@revscott: I have no desire to watch high school basketball, especially now that high schoolers are not allowed to jump straight to the pros. If I want to see the next great overhyped NBA superdud, I'll watch his freshman year in college, where he's now required to play.

And @rafael: I would not be surprised if ESPN is consciously ignoring the NHL to try and devalue the product. If they can make the fan interest drop to a level where only the "die-hards" are watching/attending games, then when the NHL TV contract goes out for bids, ESPN can probably pick it up on the cheap and re-build the product through the uber-hype machine in Bristol.

Hey Dan, dont mock Juan Dixon too much. He will never be an NBA star, but he's been a very valuable 3rd guard off the bench (even scoring over 30 points in a playoff game for the Wiz). And he's done it all through hard work and effort. Remember, no one even thought he would get off the bench at Maryland (ala your boy Arenas at Arizona), so everything Juan does in the NBA is gravy. There's 3 people you cant say anything bad about around me and that's Ronald Reagan, John Wayne and Juan Dixon!

@pats64: That might be the weakest hockey "fight" I've ever seen. It looked more like a WWE match, with the "fighters" talking to and smiling at each other, just before they grabbed ancd clutched, and maybe connected with a punch.

Are there any other Red Sox fans out there as excited about the Schilling non-deal as I am?

I mean, there aren't a lot of people out there that I think are more competitive than Schill, and to light a fire under him like this could be a brilliant move for the Red Sox. The last time this guy had something to really pitch for were the bloody sock games (which guaranteed him an extra contract year).

The major downside, of course, is that he'll likely become even more omnipresent in the media and talk radio... erg... (to all non-Red Sox fans, we wish he'd shut up sometimes too).

ESPN is going the NASCAR route because of the new deal they have with them.

As far as Cold Pizza. I made a sign for the Florida/Florida State College Gameday in 2003 that said: "Cold Pizza Sucks". ESPN asked me to remove the sign, but I was selected as the Gator fan they panned to for reaction when Corso made his pick because of the sign.

Couple things. Didn't the NHL go to ESPN after the strike and ESPN refused to deal because the World Series of Poker was getting the same ratings?

Whitlock sometimes has really good articles/posts that are similar to the one Dan linked and I think he's right on. Bill Cosby has also been a big activist in trying to show black people that they need to improve (for lack of a better term) themeselves by focusing on things like education, leadership, etc before they can change the image to everyone else.

OJ Mayo may be better, but to me it sounds like he's a prima dona headcase with some character issues. Maybe he is, maybe he isn't?

Actually I do not think the Red Sox have any intention of signing Schilling even after the season especially if Zambrano becomes a free agent. I think the Red Sox goal will be to have a very young starting staff by 2008 and they will do that by not having Schilling and Wakefield after this year especially if Lester can get back to the form he showed before he was stricken with Cancer.

I'm excited about the Schilling non-deal. He drives me crazy. Why wouldn't the Red Sox want to make sure he is healthy before signing him? I totally agree with this. (And I never agree with the Red Sox's pitching decisions...my dog's name is Bronson Arroyo.)

The Red Sox will keep Wakefield until his arm falls off. They might have him another 10 years, honest!

Schilling mentioned wanting to live in Mass. after he's done playing. I bet the Red Sox still get first chance to re-sign him, but I can't blame them for not extending the guy.

I totally agree with big D....ESPN promotes what it wants to promote. It gets no financial reward from hockey doing well, so I bet the only reason they mention it at all is to avoid a class-action lawsuit for specifically and obviously completely ignoring it totally. (Could that even happen?) It also explains the sudden jump in NASCAR reporting, and high school hoops.

I agree that Dillon's free to go. The two long runs he had this year were against the Jets in Foxboro, and against the Colts in Indy, and he ran out of gas at the 15 yard line, like he was in slow motion.

Three things to see this weekend....the Sabres-Sens rematch, Pitt-GTown, and Ohio St.-Wisconsin.

That's right rafeal- the WWL is not the only sports source and foxsports.com/ FSN Final score and si.com have ample hockey coverage. The NHL and ESPN are still in a hissy fit after the lockout (NHL won't let ESPN have live highlights and ESPN chose not to renew its K with the NHL).

And it was a hell of a game the fight notwithstanding between 2 heavyweights in the Eastern Conference where there were 10 regulation goals and decided by the shootout.

Not for nothing Dan but a half second blurb on perhaps the best game of the season? for shame....

Several days before Arroyo was traded, a friend of mine bought me an autographed picture, (and another friend got me an Arroyo T-shirt for Xmas), so I feel your pain Danielle.

Also, your comment about Riley got me thinking. In all of the Amaechi/Hardaway stories that were out there, another big piece of the story was lost. From the excerpt that was in ESPN magazine, Amaechi suggests that Jerry Sloan benched him/mistreated him, etc. in part because of suspicions that Amaechi was gay. How come more hasn't been made of this story?

ESPN only bothers to talk about hockey when there is a brawl, huh? Oh Noes! Could not care less. I do not need 100 million Americans watching; I enjoy my hockey games, the best players in the world play in the NHL because they make milions. I could not care less about a billion dollar TV deal that would see these millionaires double their salaries; why would that make a lick of difference to me? I live in Canada, hockey coverage is everywhere. I would care if I was a hockey fan in the US, but I am not. You go back to watching your College basketball (lol), your Dancing With the Stars, and whatever new crap reality show the networks dream up, and I will continue to watch the most exciting sport on the planet. It is not my loss if people do not care, it is theirs.

roboninj - stop hating on reality tv. the real world is starting to get good (ie everyone is drinking more and sick of living with each other especially after theyve all boned each other) and i defy you to come up with more entertainment per minutes then the original king of reality tv COPS.

i'm sorry canada television doesnt afford you the luxuaries we enjoy here in america. thank you for martin broduer. die rangers.

Now we just need to tell Simmons the game against the Pistons wasn't on CBS. It was on Sportschannel (with Mike and Tommy) or TBS for the national feed. I think I watched it on Sportschannel, but because it was a pay channel back then, it was scrambled. So the audio was fine, but the video kept going out horizontally.

That's what I was suggesting by my comment about him. I don't know if I am missing something, but is the media giving him any crap for his selective availability. As soon as Shaq is healthy Riley decides to coach again. Last year he fires Van Gundy once he knows they are a championship team. I knew once the Heat was above .500 he would do this. It's almost Karma that on his first night back Wade gets hurt (though it sucks for my fantasy team). I don't even care about the NBA and Riley's coaching behavior is driving me crazy, and it bothers me so much that the media isn't even mentioning it.

Hey Dan, today's the last day to sign up for our fantasy league! Otherwise, if you don't join, we're offering it to your readers and we vote who gets in. Email me or just check your email. Hope to see you there!

I won't be commenting much today guys. I've got to deal with my car. It's totaled..... :( My poor old car is done...... give me a second here....

Yeah, Mirabelli is there pretty much only to catch Wake. He's really worthless otherwise.

They're grooming George Kottaras to be the primary backup, and he should take over after this season.

Though I'm not the biggest NHL fan in the world (I follow College Hockey more actually), hockey is by far the best sport to be at live (not including baseball at Fenway). I just wish tickets for Bruins games were cheaper. How they didn't lower ticket prices dramatically after the lockout befuddles me...

Big D,Don't be surprised to see Mike Nolan and the Niners heavy players in the A Thomas sweepstakes. In fact I almost expect Thomas will sign with Nolan and the Niners because of their familiarity. At least as a Niner fan I am hoping.

big d? It sucks you have to search to find good hockey, I ffel for you in that respect. We have no such problems up here. Hopefully both ESPN and the NHL stop acting like babies and settle their problems and get a new deal soon. But, as I mentioned before, I do not hope for that in hopes that hockey "gets it's moment to shine, and becomes one of the major sports in the USA and makes billions of dollars"; I hope for it because true hockey fans should be able to see lots of hockey. BTW, the Center Ice package not available in your area? I have had it in the past, and will have it again in the future. It is televised crack. To the people that tell me to stop ranting agaist reality TV...you have to be kidding me. It is easily the worst change in TV programming since it's inception. I watch zero of these shows, and not out of some false sense of superiority, but they are just so..damn..boring. COPS was mildly interesting for the first 2-4 shows, then it was more of the same. But, I did not watch Jerry Springer either. I did find it interesting no one tried to defend college basketball, but a couple defended reality TV :)

I posted a comment yesterday that one reason I still like Simmons was because he isnt negative like so many writers on the web. Case in point, one of the feature articles on ESPN Page 2 has a headline calling Wade a "one ring wonder."

Come on, I am not even a huge Wade or even NBA fan, but this is unreal. I didnt even click on it because I didnt want to give it an extra hit. An article like that is just so absurdly negative and just trying to get a reaction.

Of all the sports stars/celebrities I have met Wakefield is the nicest guy. He actually took the time to talk baseball and seemed genuinely interested. Of course I wasn't bothering him while he was eating dinner or anything.

You should read the Neel article "One Ring Wonder" It's actually about how hard it is to win championships in the nba. How luck and timing play a huge role in winning just one title. Mentions how miami were poised to win again but one small play looks like it changed all that. Neel throws in the 77 'Blazers and how they looked liked they were poised to win again but some things went wrong and they couldn't do it again.There's nothing negative about Wade there.

I normally hate Whitlock, (especially when he was on PTI), but I liked this article. I don't quite understand using the "Black KKK" terminology (is that something I'm missing), but other than that I think he's mostly right. Like all Whitlock columns, there's some self-importance and disjointed structure to it, but overall I think he got the message right.

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DanShanoff.com is a sports-blog spin-off of my long-time ESPN.com column, "The Daily Quickie." Anchored by an early-morning post of must-know topics, the blog is updated frequently throughout the day with new posts and user comments.